TORRENT - Lisa Tawn Bergren - Free Book

I have been looking forward to this interview. I had Waterfall, book one of your series, on my Kindle. The minute I finished reading it, I immediately bought and downloaded book two, Cascade. After reading it, I got the print copy of Torrent and devoured it. Lisa, why do you write the kind of books you do?

Hmmm…Writing comes out of my imagination, my experience, my dreams, my hopes, my fears, my beliefs…So that’s a tough question. It just is. I don’t write books as an agenda, or to accomplish a specific goal—other than to lead people a little bit closer to the Source of all Love. That allows for all KINDS of different books, which I think you’d see, if you looked at all 40+ books I’ve written, all laid out across the floor.

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?

Marrying my husband, Tim. Next year, I’ll celebrate twenty years with my best friend.

How has being published changed your life?

Eventually it became our main source of income—that’s pretty monumental. J But it’s also opened my eyes to dreaming big, and seeing dreams realized. It’s fun, every time.

What are you reading right now?

THE WORLD IN 2050, by Laurence Smith. It’s nonfiction, and projects what will be happening if we currently continue on demographic, geological, globalization and cultural trends. Since I’m considering writing a futuristic YA series next, it’s important for me to know what might happen, if Jesus doesn’t return! Other than that—the last book was SARAH’S KEY, an amazing novel, and a ton of general market YA novels.

What is your current work in progress?

I’m working on the final rounds with my editor of GLAMOROUS ILLUSIONS, the first book in the Grand Tour Series, which will come out June 2012. I’ll move right into #2 and #3 in that series, and perhaps will dabble in some e-publishing, continuing the River of Time Series.

If you do ebooks continuing this series, I want you back on my blog with them. What would be your dream vacation?

Anyone who knows me knows I constantly dream of Italy. I’d love to spend an entire month there…traveling from top to bottom, and an entire Summer, settled into a cozy little villa in the hills, where I could hear the bells tolling, smell the lavender and rosemary on the breeze…*sigh*

How do you choose your settings for each book?

They have to be places I love, since locations are always so integral to my stories. They really are the catalyst, in many ways. For the Homeward Trilogy (Breathe, Sing, Claim) it was Colorado, because the main character suffered from consumption, and Colorado Springs was a leader in the sanitorium biz. For the River of Time (Waterfall, Cascade, Torrent) it was Tuscany, because the heroine’s parents are Etruscan archeologists and the hero is a medieval prince of sorts…For my upcoming Grand Tour series (Glamorous Illusions et al), the books will be set in unique, iconic cities—Paris, Venice, Rome—because those are perfect locations for characters to really come of age, to discover monumental, formative things about themselves and their world.

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?

Whew. Glad I’m not hanging out with a zombie. J And I assume you mean someone I haven’t met, so…Ridley Scott. And in this fantasy, he’d read my River of Time Series and decided he wanted to make them into the most amazing teen movies EVER…

I hope so!! What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

We adore travel. We have a family travel web site, www.theworldiscalling.com. So we move around and report on what we discover, hoping to encourage other families to do the same. Research trips help on this front, too…We like to hike, to entertain, and just to hang out at home and relax, cooking, eating, conversing, laughing.

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?

Staying off the Internet. Twitter, Facebook, email…I overcome it by going to the library to write. I have to cut myself off from Internet access if I hope to get anything done. And I’ve never allowed myself to find out how to get on the Net at the library. So I slip my headphones on, settle in, and write like a banshee there.

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

Read Writer’s Digest. Go to the nearest writer’s conference. Read like crazy in the genre you want to write yourself. Then get words down on paper. Every day.

Tell us about the featured book.

The River of Time Series (beginning with Waterfall and Cascade) is about two American teens who time-travel back to medieval Italy and fight for their lives, their loves, and their future. Torrent is the third book in the series, so this is going to contain some spoilers…in this installment, the Betarrini family is reunited and now the biggest question of all is on the table: Can they all agree to remain in medieval Tuscany forever? And at what cost? Giving up modern life changes life for them all. But to leave means giving up the most important thing in Gabi’s life…love, and possibly, her father again. High romance, big action—if it’s your kind of read, dive into the River of Time, even if you’re not in the YA age group—half my readers are much older!

Please give us the first page of the book. *SPOILER ALERT* (this is P1 of Book 3!)

Torrent: P1

We’d shaken the dust from the gowns the guys had left the three of us and slipped on our “medieval disguises,” as I called them, but there wasn’t a whole lot we could do for Dad.

“Yeah, that’s not gonna work out so great,” Lia said, staring up at Dad’s T-shirt.

I looked him over, still not quite believing he was with us, alive. We’d buried him, laid flowers on his grave, and mourned him for seven—no, eight months now—and yet here he was, hands on his hips, ready to take the lead in our family again. Like we’d never been gone. Which, for him, we hadn’t been.

From his perspective, we’d grown up by a couple of years while he was at an afternoon’s dig.

Such was the nature of time travel.

His brown eyes flicked from me to Lia and back again, like he couldn’t quite believe his eyes either. In our luxurious gowns we looked more like women than teens, which had to be freaking him out all the more. He turned toward the walls of the Etruscan tomb.

“Adri, this is amazing,” he said, reaching for a flashlight in his back pocket and taking in the frescoes, inch by inch.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

www.LisaBergren.com

Facebook: Lisa Tawn Bergren and River of Time Series

Twitter: @LisaTBergren @TheWorldCalls


Thank you, Lisa, for the interesting visit.


Readers, you will want to read this series whether you're a young adult or an adult. I'm encouraging my teenage granddaughters to read it, but I loved every word.


Here are links to all three book. By using them when you order, you help support this blog. Waterfall: A Novel (River of Time Series)
Cascade: A Novel (River of Time Series)
Torrent: A Novel (River of Time Series)


Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com